Prince estate and Netflix shut down due to 9-hour documentary

According to a new report, Prince’s estate will not approve a nine-hour Netflix documentary about the late singer that has been years in the making.

The contract signed in 2018 called for a six-hour series, but the final cut by director Ezra Edelman is three hours longer in its current form, which the estate’s executors believe is a violation of the original agreement, Puck reported Monday.

While Netflix is ​​reportedly “confident that a compromise can still be negotiated,” the streamer continues to stall with the deal because 49-year-old Edelman is reportedly “not interested in an abridged version” of the film.

Emmy Award winner Ava DuVernay was originally set to direct the documentary, but Edelman took over the directorial role over four years ago.

The Oscar-winning director of “OJ: Made in America” ​​has now completed the Prince project and even hosted screenings for family and friends last year, the outlet said.

However, the estate administrators criticized not only the length of the documentary, which spanned the author’s entire professional career, but also inaccuracies regarding the notoriously private subject, Puck reported.

The creative differences became even more complicated when Prince’s estate was split in half in 2022. This means Edelman needs the consent of both sides: the family and those who manage the artist’s rights.

A music industry insider exclusively told Page Six that the estate as a whole is “incredibly picky,” as it is the executors’ job to “handle Prince’s legacy with kid gloves.”

“You’ve never seen Prince release anything subpar. Everything has been carefully curated and fine-tuned. The estate still holds that high standard,” our source explains, claiming that the current version of the project “doesn’t accurately represent the legendary Prince.”

Nevertheless, the insider assures us that the estate “does indeed want the documentary to be released – when it is finished, and respectfully – so that the world can celebrate his extraordinary life and work.”

Prince, whose hits included “Purple Rain,” “Kiss” and “When Doves Cry,” died in 2016 at the age of 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Representatives for the real estate company, Netflix and Edelman did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.